Peggy's Cove is a small

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay in the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The re ...

, which is the site of Peggys Cove Lighthouse (established 1868).

Geography

Peggy's Cove is 43 kilometers (26 miles) southwest of

Downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto central business dis ...

and comprises one of the numerous small fishing communities located around the perimeter of the

Chebucto Peninsula The Chebucto Peninsula is a peninsula located in central Nova Scotia, Canada, entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by St. Margarets Bay in the west, the open Atlantic Ocean to the south, and ...

. The community is named after the

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are of ...

of the same name, a name also shared with Peggy's Point, immediately to the east of the cove. The village marks the eastern point of the St. Margarets Bay.

History

The first recorded name of the cove was Eastern Point Harbour or Peggs Harbour in 1766. The village is likely named after Saint Margaret's Bay (Peggy being a nickname for Margaret), which

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

named after his mother Marguerite Le Roy. There has been much folklore created to explain the name. One story suggests the village may have been named after the wife of an early settler. The popular legend claims that the name came from the sole survivor of a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

Halibut Rock Halibut Rock, just off the rocky shore of Peggy's Cove Peggy's Cove is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, St. Margarets Bay in the Halifax Regional Municipality, which is the site of Peggys Cove ...

near the cove. Artist and resident William deGarthe said she was a young woman while others claim she was a little girl too young to remember her name and the family who adopted her called her Peggy. The young shipwreck survivor married a resident of the cove in 1800 and became known as "Peggy of the Cove", attracting visitors from around the bay who eventually named the village Peggy's Cove, after her nickname. The village was founded in 1811 when the Province of Nova Scotia issued a land grant of more than to six families of German descent. The settlers relied on fishing as the mainstay of their economy but also farmed where the soil was fertile. They used surrounding lands to pasture cattle. In the early 1900s the population peaked at about 300. The community supported a schoolhouse, church, general store,

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

cannery Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...

and boats of all sizes that were nestled in the cove. Many artists and

photographers A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

flocked to Peggy's Cove. As roads improved, the number of

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

increased. Today the population is smaller but Peggy's Cove remains an active fishing village and a favourite tourist destination. Roads and several homes were badly damaged at Peggy's Cove in 2003 by the extensive flooding that accompanied Hurricane Juan, which also damaged the cove's breakwater. The breakwater was further washed away by Hurricane Bill in 2009, allowing waves to seriously damage a home and gift shop, and washed away one of the cove's characteristic wooden fish sheds. In January 2021, the federal and provincial governments announced the construction of a $3.1 million accessible viewing platform at Peggy's Cove, to open in June 2021.

Tourism

From its inception, the community's economy revolved around fishery. However, tourism began to overtake fishing in economic importance following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Today, Peggy's Cove is a major tourist attraction, although its inhabitants still fish for

, and the community maintains a rustic undeveloped appearance. The regional municipality and the provincial government have strict land-use regulations in the vicinity of Peggy's Cove, with most property development being prohibited. Similarly there are restrictions on who can live in the community to prevent inflation of property values for year-round residents. The historic

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structure ...

style St. John's Anglican Church, the only church in Peggy's Cove, is a municipally designated

heritage site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

The first public art gallery, tea-room, and gift shop was opened in a shack in Peggy's Cove in 1937.

Geology

More than 400 million years ago, in the

Devonian Period The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

, the

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label= Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large t ...

movement of the Earth's crust allowed molten material to bubble up from the Earth's interior. This formed the rocks seen today and are part of the Great Nova Scotia

batholith A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, su ...

. The landscape of Peggy's Cove and surrounding areas was subsequently carved by the migration of

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s and the ocean tides. About 20,000 years ago, an ice ridge moved south from Canada's Arctic region covering much of North America. Along with the ebb and flow of the glaciers, the ice ridge eventually melted and shifted and in the process scooped away and scoured large sections of rock, vegetation and topsoil. As melted land glaciers flowed back to the oceans the changing tidal flows and rising sea levels filled the scarred areas with water, forming coves and inlets. Large boulders composed of 415-million-year-old Devonian

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

, called

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundr ...

s, were lifted by the ice and carried for long distances before being deposited upon the landscape as the ice receded, leaving rugged barrens. The movement of the glacial ice and rocks left scouring marks in the bedrock that are still visible. Peggy's Cove has been declared a preservation area to protect its rugged beauty. The Peggy's Cove Commission Act, passed in 1962, prohibits development in and around the surrounding village and restricts development within Peggy's Cove. The area comprised about stretching from Indian Harbour to West Dover and includes barrens, bogs, inland ponds, and rocky coastline. PeggysCoveFromFlight111Memorial

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic tide runs about . The ocean temperature ranges between 12 and 20° Celsius (54–68° Fahrenheit) in the summer and falls to between 0.5 and 4.5° Celsius (33–40° Fahrenheit) in the winter. The ocean moderates the air temperature over the land year round. The shape of the ocean floor and the numerous ocean currents facilitate a rich diversity of marine life along the Atlantic coastline. The Labrador Current flowing south from the Arctic cools the ocean during the summer months. Offshore, the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the Uni ...

, travelling northwest from the Caribbean to the northern Europe warms the ocean waters. The confluence of currents off Nova Scotia brings unusual Arctic and tropical species to St. Margarets Bay. Marine life includes

Atlantic bluefin tuna The Atlantic bluefin tuna (''Thunnus thynnus'') is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It is variously known as the northern bluefin tuna (mainly when including Pacific bluefin as a subspecies), giant bluefin tuna or individuals excee ...

, white-sided and white-beaked dolphins, and

pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely range (biology), distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammal, marine mammals. They comprise the extant taxon, extant family (biology ...

s. Endangered Atlantic

leatherback sea turtle The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to and weights ...

s are seen in the waters near shore. Endangered

right whale Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...

s and many other species are found in the waters.

Cultural impact

The cove was the scene of a youth novel by

Bryan Doyle Bryan Michael Doyle (born 13 November 1963), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Campbelltown for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2015. Early years and background With family links t ...

called ''You Can Pick Me up at Peggy's Cove'' (1976), which was made into a film directed by Don McBrearty and into a video released by Beacon Films, Inc., in 1982. In 2016 it was announced that a Peggy's Cove–themed resort had opened in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

William deGarthe

Sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

William E. deGarthe lived in Peggy's Cove. A gallery exhibiting his work is open to the public between May 1 and October 31 each year. Outside the gallery, in the William E. deGarthe Provincial Park, is a carved granite outcropping. This 30 m (100 ft) sculpture was carved by deGarthe as "a lasting monument to Nova Scotian fishermen". It depicts 32 fishermen, their wives, and children enveloped by the wings of St Elmo, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocacy, advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, ...

of sailors, as well as the legendary Peggy.

Swissair Flight 111

On September 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed into St. Margaret's Bay approximately eight kilometres (five miles) southwest of Peggy's Cove with the loss of all 229 aboard. The cove became one of the staging areas for first responders that were involved in the search-and-rescue response, crash recovery operation, and investigation of the crash. Many of the CCGA volunteers that were first to approach the crash site were privately owned fishing boats that were operating out of Peggy's Cove and surrounding harbours. In the days following the crash many families and media came to Peggy's Cove to see the crash site. Some of the victims' family members were displeased with the plans for burial of unidentified remains, believing they should have been buried at the site of the memorial.

References

Sources

* ''List of Lights'' 1870–1998 Canadian Coast Guard * ''Peggys Cove Geological Guide'' Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources
HRM Civic Address Map

External links

{{Authority control Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia Coves of Canada Bays of Nova Scotia Fishing communities Fishing communities in Canada Swissair Tourist attractions in Halifax County, Nova Scotia